The calm water and sandy shores of Mission Bay are San Diego’s destination for stand-up paddle boarding, late-night bonfires and about 50 feral cats.

Some were born wild and some were abandoned, but all now call the jetty home.

These are not normal feral cats, fearful of humans, hissing and darting at the sight of a sneaker. They are a managed colony, appropriately known as the Jetty Cats, with a Facebook page and an assemblage of devoted feeders, some of whom have been dropping by with Fancy Feast deliveries for upward of 30 years.

Audrey Stratton, a 28-year-old Ocean Beach resident, has been feeding the colony for two years and knows every one of the residents. She’s concerned when one vanishes and aware when a new member joins.

Stratton still remembers the day Frank showed up. He was skittish, bolting any time she came close.

Then, one random afternoon, he rubbed her leg and meowed up at her. They were fast friends.

“Every time I came, he’d follow me out to my car and meow,” she said. “It’d break my heart.”

The social cats like Frank were once pets, left behind in a move or ditched when costs became overwhelming. The rest are true ferals, the descendants of domesticated animals forced to fend for themselves.

If cats born in the wild are not taken from feral moms before six weeks of age, it’s unlikely they’ll ever be domesticated, said Laura Zapico, clinic reservations coordinator for San Diego’s Feral Cat Coalition, known as FCC.

“People think they can tame a cat on the edge of friendliness, but they’re learning the ways of the world from the mom,” she said. “They might take a liking to you, but they will probably never be pets.”

A feral cat under anesthesia is secured to a plastic board to prevent movement during its surgery at a spay/neuter clinic by the Feral Cat Coalition. About 65 feral cats were spayed or neutered during the recent clinic. The cats also were given vaccinations and were groomed by volunteers.
— Earnie Grafton / U-T San Diego

A feral cat under anesthesia is secured to a plastic board to prevent movement during its surgery at a spay/neuter clinic by the Feral Cat Coalition. About 65 feral cats were spayed or neutered during the recent clinic. The cats also were given vaccinations and were groomed by volunteers.
— Earnie Grafton / U-T San Diego

Trap-neuter-return is the generally accepted method for helping the kitties, consisting of community members luring the animals into humane traps, getting them neutered and returning them to their colony. Fixing the cats as early as possible — when they’re two pounds, which kittens usually reach at 8 to 10 weeks — helps encourage population stability.

But just because the felines return to their colony doesn’t mean they’re best left unattended.

Rhonda Thompson, FCC’s clinic supervisor, said the group will not release cats to trappers unless they know the felines have somewhere to go.

“Why spay and neuter the animals if they’re going to starve to death?” she said.

Keeping the cats meowing takes all kinds, from happily engaged 20-somethings like Stratton to single guys to mothers like Thompson. But despite their best efforts, it’s a problem with no end in sight.

A feral cat carries its catch of the day in its mouth. The feline belongs to a feral cat colony located along Mission Bay.
— Earnie Grafton / U-T San Diego

A feral cat carries its catch of the day in its mouth. The feline belongs to a feral cat colony located along Mission Bay.
— Earnie Grafton / U-T San Diego

The issue

With an estimated 60 million feral cats in the U.S., the population growth never seems to falter. The economy is driving more and more people to ditch cats — usually not spayed — wherever it’s convenient or leave them behind at foreclosed homes.

San Diego’s temperate climate makes it easier for cats to survive, said Dawn Danielson, director of San Diego Animal Services. Coyotes make a minor dent in the population, but felines cunning enough to survive in the wild are masters at outsmarting predators.